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Hey guys. I just wanted to share my experience with you on my new Tikka. First off, the build quality is exceptional. I've been enjoying the heck out of it, since I bought it last weekend. It's an excellent rifle for the price point. It easily shoots sub moa 3 shot groups, but as some of you know about me, I don't shoot too many 3 shot groups. Not that I expect benchrest accuracy out of any lightweight hunting rifle, but I strive for ultimate accuracy from all of my rifles (really old and new alike). This is not a budget rifle build, but more a search for accuracy and I'm sharing my experience. Hopefully you guys get a kick out of it. I'm going to be posting some 10 shot groups from this new rifle and I'll show you where I established a baseline for this rifle. This is the first of a few 10 shot groups. I like the 2 10 shot groups side by side routine we do at 24 hour campfire in our "moa all day long" challenge, so you'll see these targets posted a few times. However, I'm going to start from the beginning and show you my first shot (bore sight) and the initial dialing in of the scope. I only use 3 shot groups for that. Generally I get it close and then start on load development:
Like I said, pretty much sub moa, except for the upper left target. Scope (Zeiss 3-9x42) seemed to track well for the initial dialing in.
After that, I move on to my 10 shot groups:
It was extremely windy that day, so I did not shoot much. I also had my buddy Troy with me and it was getting late. So we called it a day.
When I got home, I was examining the rifle with a fine tooth comb and realized the barrel was not freefloated all the way to the recoil lug, like I like. It was only freefloated about half way down the barrel channel and then out to the tip of the forend. I did a little research and saw where guys said it helped to freefloat the tikka's all the way, so I figured I'd try it and see. I then shot some 10 shot groups with it yesterday. Weather was not cooperating at all. It was windy and rainy. Here are the results of the freefloat test:
I wrote on the target, "no difference in group size", but there may have been a little change for the better. Keep in mind, I'm using the load I developed for my Savage 12fv too. Before going to the range that day, I load up some bullets that are .020" off the lands and try them as well. Here are the results:
Note how it says "last 13 shots" on the target on the left. I loaded up 20 rounds with an OAL of 2.915" for the Tikka, I had 3 shots left of the other loads, so I figure what the heck and fire those into the group with the others. Of course, those 3 are the ones on the right of the big 10 shot hole. No worries, this is just a test to find better accuracy and I think this proves the rifle is responding well to subtle changes in the load and the barrels harmonics are slightly changed by the freefloat. We are walking in the right direction, I believe. I am noticing some slight vertical stringing in the group on the right hand side and decide it needs to be glass bedded. I do that last night and finish it up this morning. Here are the results of todays outing with the barreled action glass bedded in the stock:
This is the load my Savage 12fv likes, as I did not have time to load anymore up at the optimum OAL. So I had to live with using my other rifles load for one more day. I personally see an improvement, even if it is ever so slight, it's encroaching on that MOA mark ever so slightly with each mod I do. In case you are wondering what I meant by shot 6 slipped, here's where I was shooting. There was a sheet of ice under my feet:
Now on to working up a load for this ol girl. I think she's worthy... Oh, by the way, this is what the first 4 shots looked like in the target above:
Like I said, pretty much sub moa, except for the upper left target. Scope (Zeiss 3-9x42) seemed to track well for the initial dialing in.
After that, I move on to my 10 shot groups:
It was extremely windy that day, so I did not shoot much. I also had my buddy Troy with me and it was getting late. So we called it a day.
When I got home, I was examining the rifle with a fine tooth comb and realized the barrel was not freefloated all the way to the recoil lug, like I like. It was only freefloated about half way down the barrel channel and then out to the tip of the forend. I did a little research and saw where guys said it helped to freefloat the tikka's all the way, so I figured I'd try it and see. I then shot some 10 shot groups with it yesterday. Weather was not cooperating at all. It was windy and rainy. Here are the results of the freefloat test:
I wrote on the target, "no difference in group size", but there may have been a little change for the better. Keep in mind, I'm using the load I developed for my Savage 12fv too. Before going to the range that day, I load up some bullets that are .020" off the lands and try them as well. Here are the results:
Note how it says "last 13 shots" on the target on the left. I loaded up 20 rounds with an OAL of 2.915" for the Tikka, I had 3 shots left of the other loads, so I figure what the heck and fire those into the group with the others. Of course, those 3 are the ones on the right of the big 10 shot hole. No worries, this is just a test to find better accuracy and I think this proves the rifle is responding well to subtle changes in the load and the barrels harmonics are slightly changed by the freefloat. We are walking in the right direction, I believe. I am noticing some slight vertical stringing in the group on the right hand side and decide it needs to be glass bedded. I do that last night and finish it up this morning. Here are the results of todays outing with the barreled action glass bedded in the stock:
This is the load my Savage 12fv likes, as I did not have time to load anymore up at the optimum OAL. So I had to live with using my other rifles load for one more day. I personally see an improvement, even if it is ever so slight, it's encroaching on that MOA mark ever so slightly with each mod I do. In case you are wondering what I meant by shot 6 slipped, here's where I was shooting. There was a sheet of ice under my feet:
Now on to working up a load for this ol girl. I think she's worthy... Oh, by the way, this is what the first 4 shots looked like in the target above:
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